The present invention relates generally to single-person watercraft. More specifically, the present invention includes a watercraft designed to be ridden in the seated position on any body of water, including rivers, lakes, streams or oceans, wherein the rider's body is fully supported by, but not enclosed within the craft and the two bladed paddles are primarily used to power and direct the craft.
The “Hanak” watercraft paddles faster and is more maneuverable compared to a standup board. A rider can spend more time on the water because less effort is needed to paddle the watercraft and has a more comfortable position of the riders body. You can put the board in knee deep water to lift yourself easily into the seat with your arms to start off. A variety of size and shapes of surfboards will fit under the seat and kick board.
The rider interface on existing human powered watercraft has several advantages and disadvantages. Kayaks and canoes have the rider seated in a sitting position. This allows for increased torque with the use of a paddle. However, the seated position also raises the center of gravity, thereby increasing instability which is needed to ride braking waves.
Surfboards are made to be ridden on waves while standing and thus offer little stability in flat water or on rivers.
Body boards, or boogie boards, are designed to be ridden in the prone position, but such crafts typically extend only as far back as the pelvis, leaving the lower half of the rider's body exposed to rocks or other hazards below the surface of the water. There is also a substantial amount of drag created by the rider's legs being submerged in the water, creating a loss of speed, limiting directional control, and inhibiting response of the craft to the rider's propulsion. This arrangement limits their use in oceans or on rivers.
This present inventions design displaces water around the deck and past the rider without the water touching the rider body reducing drag from the body of the rider. Riding higher and dryer off the water you have less resistance from deck water. Being a foot off the water gives the rider greater leverage and body English to paddle and surf waves much like a standup paddle board paddle while surfing but, at a seated position. This elevated seat design lets you ride in a position that is more comfortable than low in the water like a Kayak which is at water level position.
People have used many means to navigate and explore bodies of water, such as canoes, kayaks, surfboards, and body boards. These specific crafts have been developed to facilitate travel on the many unique bodies of water found on the earth. Surfboards are primarily designed to ride wave momentum in ocean surf. Body boards are used in some rivers and in ocean surf.
This design presented has a single fin layout, but variety of fin layouts can be used are optional for various conditions or preferences can be used. The top deck design can be fitted to many different surfboard sizes bottom contours and shapes.
The craft may be manufactured using any suitable process. One such method includes the steps of filling a mold shaped like a surfboard The molded craft may then be fiber glassed over using fiberglass cloth, carbon fiber or Kevlar cloth with polyester and/or epoxy resin.
This embodiment allows for easy design changes. Other manufacturing processes may include rotational molding, flexible skin over a foam core, injection molding, blow molding, hand carved from foam and covered in a variety of composites, or any other suitable process to meet the design specifications and requirements that are described in this document.
It is particularly advantageous to manufacture the personal watercraft so that it has a monolithic design, without the need for multiple sections that must be snapped, glued, or otherwise attached together to form the final product. Such a monolithic design eliminates seams and connections that may tend to leak or come apart during the stress of use.
The most cost effective mode of manufacturing the craft would be to rotationally mold the craft, but techniques not yet applied to watercraft such as verity of foam cores with plastic skin, may yield a lighter and more cost effective craft. The method of a monolithic design crates a more durable and stable structure.
As mentioned heretofore, it should be understood that the watercraft may be used in any kind of water, including oceans, rivers, lakes, creeks.